Connector with improved cover hinge construction

ABSTRACT

A connector in which hinges (17), interconnecting a cover (15, 16) and a housing, (11) are positively prevented from being damaged, and the rate of development of defective products during the supply of parts and during the production of a wire harness is reduced. The connector includes a housing (11) having an opening (13) communicating with terminal receiving chambers (12) formed in the housing, a cover 15, 16 for closing the opening (13) and long hinges (17) interconnecting the housing and the cover. Before the cover is closed, the long hinges are deformed in a curved manner, and are received in a space P between the housing and the cover, and connecting bands (18) extend between the housing (11) and the cover, (15, 16) and are disposed outwardly of the long hinges,(17) respectively, and when the cover (15) is to be closed, the connecting bands (18) are cut in parallel relation to a centerline C of the housing, and are removed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a connector suitably used, for example, in awire harness for an automobile.

A connector of the type described is disclosed in Japanese Utility ModelExamined Publication No. 2-41824. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in thisconnector, a plurality of terminal receiving chambers 2 are formed in afemale housing 1, and extend in a forward-rearward direction. Openings 3are formed in upper and lower surfaces of the housing 1, and communicatewith the terminal receiving chambers 2. The openings 3 are closed bycovers 4 (each serving also as a terminal retaining member) afterpress-connecting terminals (not shown), to which wires W are to beconnected, respectively, are mounted respectively in the terminalreceiving chambers 2. Each of the covers 4 is connected to the upper (orthe lower) surface of the housing 1 by a pair of long hinges 5 and 5,and before the cover 4 is closed, each cover 4 is held in a suspendedcondition above the upper openings 3 (or below the lower openings 3).The pair of upper hinges 5, as well as the pair of lower hinges 5,comprise elastic bands, respectively, which can be easily bent or flexedupon application of an external force.

In the above conventional connector, less time and labor are requiredfor the supply and storage of the parts as compared with the type ofconnector in which a cover, serving as a terminal retaining member, isseparate from a housing. However, in some cases, the parts becomeentangled with each other during the supply of the parts, and also thewire gets caught in a gap between the housing 1 and the cover 4 (servingalso as the terminal retaining member) during the production of a wireharness. This results in a possibility that the hinges 5 are damaged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention has been made in order to overcome the above problem, andan object of the invention is to provide a connector in which hinges,connecting a cover to a housing, are positively prevented from beingdamaged, and the rate of development of defective products during thesupply of parts and during the production of a wire harness is reduced.

The object can be attained by a connector, according to the presentinvention, comprising a housing having an opening communicating withterminal receiving chambers formed in the housing; a cover for closingthe opening; and long hinges interconnecting the housing and the cover;

wherein when the cover is opened, the long hinges are deformed in acurved manner, and are received in a space between the housing and thecover, and connecting bands extend between the housing and the cover,and are disposed outwardly of the long hinges, respectively, and whenthe cover is to be closed, the connecting bands are cut in parallelrelation to a centerline of the housing, and are removed.

In this connector, the housing is prevented from becoming entangled withanother housing during the supply of parts, and besides wires and otherparts-are prevented from being caught in a gap between the housing andthe cover during the production of a wire harness.

In the above-mentioned connector according to the present invention,advantageously, the connecting bands, interconnecting the housing andthe cover, are formed integrally with the housing and the cover, andextend respectively from opposite side portions of the housingrespectively to opposite side portions of the cover, and a pair of thelong hinges are formed integrally with the housing and the cover, andare disposed between the pair of connecting bands.

In this connector, the pair of long hinges are protected by the pair ofconnecting bands disposed outwardly respectively of the hinges, andtherefore the hinges are positively prevented from being damaged duringthe supply of the parts and during the production of the wire harness.

In the above-mentioned connector according to the present invention,advantageously, engagement portions are formed respectively on theopposite side portions of the cover, and are disposed adjacentrespectively to the pair of connecting bands, and the engagementportions can be respectively brought into and out of engagement withretaining portions formed on the housing.

In this connector, the effect of projecting the pair of long hinges isfurther enhanced by the pair of connecting bands and the engagementportions provided respectively at the opposite side portions of thecover.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional connection, showing acondition before covers are closed;

FIG. 2 is a side-elevational view of the conventional connector, showinga condition when the covers are opened (that is, before the covers areclosed);

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one preferred embodiment of a connectorof the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the connector, showing a conditionbefore covers are closed;

FIG. 5 a side-elevational view of the connector, showing the conditionbefore the covers are set; and

FIG. 6 is a side-elevational view of the connector, showing a conditionafter the covers are set (that is, the assembling of the connector iscompleted).

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one preferred embodiment of apress-connecting connector suitably used, for example, in a wire harnessfor an automobile, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the connector,showing a condition before covers are set (that is, during the supply ofparts and during the production of a wire harness), FIG. 5 aside-elevational view of the connector, showing the condition before thecovers are set, and FIG. 6 is a side-elevational view of the connector,showing a condition after the covers are set (that is, the assembling ofthe connector is completed).

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, the connector 10 comprises a box-shapedhousing 11 of a synthetic resin, which includes a plurality of (upperand lower) rows of terminal receiving chambers 12, and a pair of upperand lower openings 13 and 13 formed respectively in upper and lowersurfaces of the housing 12 to communicate respectively with the upperand lower rows of terminal receiving chambers 11, a plurality ofpress-connecting terminals 14 (to which wires (not shown) are to bepress-connected, respectively) received respectively in the upper andlower rows of terminal receiving chambers 12 in the housing 11, the pairof upper and lower covers 15 and 16 (which serve also as terminalretaining members, respectively) for respectively closing the upper andlower openings 13 to cover wire press-connecting portions 14a and wireclamping portions 14b of the press-connecting terminals 14 which areexposed through the openings 13 in the housing 11, a pair of hinges 17and 17 integrally formed between the housing 11 and each cover 15, 16,and a pair of connecting bands 18 and 18 integrally formed between thehousing 11 and each cover 15, 16.

The housing 11 has a central wall 11a which is disposed centrally of thethickness of the housing 11, and separates the upper and lower rows ofterminal receiving chambers 12 from each other. A pair of upper andlower retaining projections (retaining portions) 11c and 11c are formedon an outer surface of each of opposite side walls 11b and 11b of thehousing 11 at a rear end portion thereof. As shown in FIG. 4, aplurality of terminal insertion holes 11e for respectively passing maleterminals of a mating connector (not shown) therethrough are formedthrough a front wall 11d of the housing 11, and are disposedrespectively in registry with contact portions 14c of thepress-connecting terminals 14 received respectively in the upper andlower rows of terminal receiving chambers 12.

Projecting portions 15d extend downwardly respectively from oppositeside walls of the upper cover 15 at a rear end portion thereof adjacentto the pair of connecting bands 18, and projecting portions 16d extendupwardly respectively from opposite side walls of the lower cover 16 ata rear end portion thereof adjacent to the pair of connecting bands 18.Engagement holes 15c, 16c for being brought respectively into and out ofengagement with the associated retaining projections 11c formedrespectively on the opposite side walls 11b and 11b of the housing 11are formed respectively through the projecting portions 15d, 16d. AnL-shaped lock piece portion 15a for locking engagement with the matingconnector (not shown) is formed integrally on an upper surface of theupper cover 15.

Each pair of hinges 17 and 17 are formed integrally with the housing 11and the associated cover 15, 16 to interconnect them, and each hinge 17is in the form of a long, elastically-deformable band. As shown in FIG.4, before each cover 15, 16 is closed (that is, each cover is opened),each pair of hinges 17 and 17 are deformed in a curved manner, and arereceived in a space P formed between the upper (lower) surface of thehousing 11 and the lower surface of the upper cover 15 (the uppersurface of the lower cover 16). Each pair of connecting bands 18 and 18each in the form of a rectangular plate are formed integrally with thehousing 11 and the associated cover 15, 16 to interconnect them, andextend respectively from opposite side portions of the upper (lower)surface of the housing 11 respectively to opposite side portions of thelower surface of the upper cover 15 (the upper surface of the lowercover 16) before each cover 15, 16 is closed. With this construction,each pair of hinges 17 and 17 are disposed inwardly of the associatedpair of connecting bands 18 and 18, respectively. When the upper andlower openings 13 in the housing 11 are to be closed respectively by theupper and lower covers 15 and 16, each pair of connecting bands 18 and18 are cut in parallel relation to a centerline (axis) C of the housing11, and are removed. Namely, using predetermined means, each connectingband 18 is cut at its upper and lower ends connected respectively to thehousing 11 and the cover 15, 16, and is removed.

In the connector 10 of the above embodiment, before each cover 15, 16 isclosed, each pair of long hinges 17 and 17 are deformed in a curvedmanner, and are received in the space P between the housing 11 and thecover 15, 16, and besides each pair of connecting bands 18 and 18 areformed integrally with the housing 11 and the associated cover 15, 16,and extend respectively from the opposite side portions of the housing11 respectively to the opposite side portions of the cover 15, 16.Therefore, each pair of hinges 17 and. 17 are positively protected bythe associated pair of connecting bands 18 and 18, disposed outwardlyrespectively of the hinges 17 and 17, and the projecting portions 15d,16d each having the engagement hole 15c, 16c, thereby achieving anenhanced hinge projection effect, and besides the housing 11 ispositively prevented from becoming entangled with another housing 11,and furthermore the wires or other parts are positively prevented frombeing caught in a gap between the housing 11 and the cover 15, 16 duringthe production of the wire harness. Therefore, during the supply of theparts and during the production of the wire harness, the hinges arepositively prevented from being damaged, thereby reducing the rate ofdevelopment of defective products.

When assembling the connector 10, each of the connecting bands 18 is cutat its opposite ends connected respectively to the housing 1 and thecover 15, 16, using the predetermined means. The pair of upper and lowercovers 15 and 16 are moved respectively toward the upper and loweropenings 13 and 13 in the housing 11 in parallel relation theretothrough the hinges 17 and 17 to thereby close the same, thus completingthe assembling operation as shown in FIG. 6.

Although the above embodiment is directed to the press-connectingconnector having the plurality of (upper and lower) rows of terminalreceiving chambers, the invention can be applied to a combined-typeconnector in which a plurality of housings each having a plurality ofterminal receiving chambers are stacked together.

As described above, in the connector of the invention, the housing isprevented from becoming entangled with another housing during the supplyof parts, and besides wires and other parts are prevented from beingcaught in a gap between the housing and the cover during the productionof a wire harness.

In addition, in the connector of the invention, the pair of long hingesare protected by the pair of connecting bands disposed outwardlyrespectively of the hinges, and therefore the hinges are positivelyprevented from being damaged during the supply of the parts and duringthe production of the wire harness, thereby reducing the rate ofdevelopment of the defective products.

Further, in the connector of the invention, the effect of projecting thepair of long hinges is further enhanced by the pair of connecting bandsand the engagement portions provided respectively at the opposite sideportions of the cover.

What is claimed is:
 1. A connector comprising:a housing having anopening communicating with terminal receiving chambers formed in saidhousing; a cover for closing said opening; and hinges interconnectingsaid housing and said cover, said hinges being deformed in a curvedmanner and received in a space defined between said housing and saidcover when said cover is opened; and connecting bands extending betweensaid housing and said cover and being disposed laterally outwardly ofsaid hinges, respectively, so as to protect said hinges from an externalforce wherein when said cover is to be closed, said connecting bands arecut.
 2. The connector according to claim 1, wherein when said cover isto be closed, said connecting bands are cut in parallel relation to alongitudinal centerline of said housing, and are removed.
 3. A connectorcomprising:a housing having an opening communicating with terminalreceiving chambers formed in said housing; a cover for closing saidopening; and hinges interconnecting said housing and said cover, saidhinge being deformed in a curved manner and received in a space definedbetween said housing and said cover when said cover is opened; andconnecting bands extending between said housing and said cover and beingdisposed outwardly of said hinges, respectively, wherein when said coveris to be closed, said connecting bands are cut, and wherein saidconnecting bands are formed integrally with said housing and said cover,and a pair of said hinges are formed integrally with said housing andsaid cover so as to be disposed between said pair of connecting bands.4. A connector comprising:a housing having an opening communicating withterminal receiving chambers formed in said housing; a cover for closingsaid opening; and hinges interconnecting said housing and said cover,said hinge being deformed in a curved manner and received in a spacedefined between said housing and said cover when said cover is opened;and connecting bands extending between said housing and said cover andbeing disposed outwardly of said hinges, respectively, wherein when saidcover is to be closed, said connecting bands are cut, and wherein saidconnecting bands are formed integrally with said housing and said cover,and a pair of said hinges are formed integrally with said housing andsaid cover so as to be disposed between said pair of connecting bands.5. The connector according to claim 3, whereinsaid housing is providedwith a pair of retaining portions at position away from said connectingbands respectively, and said cover is provided with a pair of engagementportions which are respectively disposed at positions adjacent to saidpair of connecting bands and are brought in engagement with said pair ofretaining portions respectively when said cover is closed.
 6. Theconnector according to claim 4, whereinsaid housing is provided with apair of retaining portions at position away from said connecting bandsrespectively, and said cover is provided with a pair of engagementportions which are respectively disposed at positions adjacent to saidpair of connecting bands and are brought in engagement with said pair ofretaining portions respectively when said cover is closed.